Kennedy

MP

Bob Katter since 1993. Originally elected as a National Party MP, Katter resigned to become an Independent in July 2001 and in 2011 formed his own party, Katter's Australian Party.

Profile

Kennedy covers the entire northern outback of Queensland. It includes Normanton, Burketown and the Gulf Country, Mt Isa and the pastoral districts stretching east along the Flinders Highway to Charters Towers, and a strip of the coast from just north of Townsville through to Ingham, Innisfail and some southern suburbs of Cairns. The electorate also includes the Atherton Tablelands and Cape York south of the Mitchell River. The electorate covers 568,993 sq.kms, just under a third of Queensland and an area two and half times the size of Victoria. (Map)

Background

Existing since Federation, this seat is named after Edmund Kennedy, an early explorer of Cape York. It has had only 7 members over the last century, including two father and son teams, Labor's David Riordan (1929-36) and son Bill (1936-66), and the two Bob Katters, Senior (1966-90) and Junior since 1993.

Kennedy was won for Labor by Rob Hulls in 1990 on the retirement of Bob Katter Senior in 1990, but he was defeated in 1993 by Bob Katter Junior. Hulls went on to serve as Deputy-Premier and Attorney-General in the Victorian Labor governments between 1999 and 2010.

Campaign Update

Labor's original candidate, Ken Robertson, stood down after it was revealed he had accused Tony Abbot of being a racist and wanting to bring back the White Australia Policy.

2011 Census Profile

At 13.3% Kennedy has the nation's fifth highest proportion of Indigenous residents.

2013 Ballot Paper (8 Candidates)

Candidate Name

Party

BRAZIER, Ronald George

Palmer United Party

TUXFORD, Chester Gordon

Independent

STIRLING, Jenny

The Greens

KATTER, Bob

Katter's Australian Party

HECHT, Pam

Rise Up Australia Party

VOGLER, Dan

Family First

IKIN, Noeline

Liberal National Party of Queensland

TURNOUR, Andrew

Australian Labor Party

Candidates

Ronald George Brazier

Palmer United Party

Based in north Queensland, George Brazier is the sales manager in the construction industry.

Jenny Stirling

The Greens

Born and raised in Innisfail, Stirling raised her four children in the coal mining communities of Collinsville and Moranbah. For the past 13 years she has lived, studied and worked in Townsville. A social worker by profession, Stirling is currently working in aged care and as an advocate and community development worker with refugees and migrants. She has previously worked as a subject co-ordinator, associate lecturer and project officer at James Cook University, and has served the wider community in a number of voluntary capacities, including schools and street chaplaincy over many years. Stirling was the Green candidate for Townsville at the last two Queensland elections.

Bob Katter

Katter's Australian Party

68 year-old Katter is a former state member for Flinders and served as Minister for Northern Development in the Bjelke-Petersen government. A real maverick in the National Party, he was widely known as 'mad Bob' and his gift for an outrageous quote was the saviour of many journalists on a slow news day. Well known for his opposition to aspects of Fightback, he continued his contrariness in government by distancing himself from all sorts of 'economic rationalism'. With this history, Katter's decision to resign from the National Party and sit as an Independent in 2001 came as no surprise to many of his former party colleagues, though perhaps he had not been expecting the Howard government to be re-elected in 2001. A classic North Queensland MP unafraid of highlighting his independence, Katter has been easily re-elected as an Independent at four elections since 2001. Katter was one of the 'three amigos' after the 2010 election, left holding the balance of power after Julia Gillard first signed agreements with the Greens and Denison MP Andrew Wilkie. Katter chose to sit on the cross-benches rather than follow Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott in allowing Gillard to form government. Katter has now formed his own party, which he wanted to be called the Australian Party, a name rejected by the Electoral Commission. Instead he now heads Katter's Australian Party.

Pam Hecht

Dan Vogler

Noeline Ikin

Liberal National Party of Queensland

Ikin is the Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Gulf Resource Management Group and has been based in Georgetown since January 2001. She is the mother of three children and owns a small horse stud. Her previous employment has included pathology, veterinary, zoo keeping and environmental tourism. She has a Science degree and is a councillor with the Etheridge Shire.